Panel Gives Company Approval To Construct New Building

MANCHESTER — TEK Industries Inc. won approval from the planning board Monday to build a 30,350-square-foot building at 71 Utopia Road, but accepted it with some reluctance.

The planning and zoning commission unanimously approved the company's plans, which are only slightly different from plans that were approved in March 1995 for a 30,000-square-foot facility. The building was never built.

The board in 1995, however, had approved the plan with the condition that a 15-inch pipe be installed to divert some of the runoff water from one catch basin to another to prevent potential road flooding.

Commission members approved the same condition Monday based on a recommendation from the town engineering department, but not after some initial resistance from Jack Pasquale, TEK vice president.

Pasquale said engineers from Fuss & O'Neill and the company's own staff engineers studied the area and found that the construction would have no impact on water runoff. The company would, however, be willing to put in the pipe if the town would cover the expense, he said.

The board said it had no power to approve a financial deal and suggested additional staff review on the plans. But after being informed that the deadline for action on the application was today, Pasquale said the company is in a hurry to get the project under way and agreed to pick up the costs of laying the pipe, which will cost between $10,000 and $15,000.

TEK Industries, at 6 Progress Drive, manufactures high-tech electronics equipment. One of its creations was the ``smart gun,'' which it designed and developed for Colt Manufacturing Co. of West Hartford.